District science fair helps foster a love of science among participants (video)

Forget the clichéd erupting volcano – this year’s Dallas ISD Science Fair ignited passion in students that went well beyond baking-soda lava. This year’s fair was conducted Jan. 9 at UT-Southwestern Medical Center. Winning entries will be showcased at STEM Day, which is Feb. 6 a Skyline High School.

Science fair judge Tyler Liang said that it’s important for students to be involved in science fairs because science is a big part of life.

Shelly Goel, a ninth-grader at the School of Science and Engineering, said that the projects go beyond science. “It doesn’t matter what you do for science fair, you can do a broad number of categories,” she said. “But it’s finding your passion, that you should do something you’re passionate about.”

Parent Sarika Gehani said the process itself teaches much to students.

“Science fair projects provide a good opportunity for kids to kind of see a project from beginning to end,” Gehani said. “They start with an idea, they’ve got to think about how they can test it, how they can measure what they test, find out what the results are, how did it compare to what they initially thought and draw conclusions.”